Lonmin's quarterly production exceeds targets despite strikes

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LONDON (ShareCast) - Lonmin (LSE: LMI.L - news) , the world's third largest platinum producer, posted quarterly production ahead of targets despite strikes that hit the South African mining sector last year.

The FTSE 250 company has spent the past few months working on resuming output at the Marikana mine following strikes in August and September that left 46 people dead, including 34 who were shot by police.

Lonmin had to turn to investors in November (Xetra: A0Z24E - news) to raise $817m to avoid breaching lending terms. The company is also without a Chief Executive after Ian Farmer announced his resignation in December due to an ongoing illness.

However, the group said performance has exceeded planned ramp up with a slight drop in platinum production for last three months of 2012.

The business produced 174,253 troy ounces of platinum in concentrate in the quarter, down 2.1% from a year earlier.

"This demonstrates the successful execution of the operational plans we put in place for the safe re-start and ramping up of production following the labour unrest that preceded the period," the group said.

"Encouragingly, the second quarter is proceeding well with the momentum of the first quarter having already been re-established. We remain focused on embedding the safety protocols that have underpinned the successful start up reflected in our solid production results."

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